TAKING THE ELM: Frank Knight, who spent a lifetime protecting Maine's oldest elm, can't save it from Dutch elm disease. "His time has come," he said. "Mine is about due."AP

A 101-year-old Maine man’s love for a majestic tree took root more than 50 years ago and he has helped it survive numerous bouts of disease and win fame as New England’s oldest, tallest elm.

But now the tree, estimated at 240 years old, is too infirm to battle yet another case of Dutch elm disease. Its devoted caretaker, Frank Knight, agrees with experts in the town of Yarmouth that it will have to be cut down.

“He’s an old friend. I love that tree,” Knight said. “There’s no question. And I feel so proud that we kept him for so long.”

The elm — nicknamed Herbie — soars 110 feet, and its trunk measures 20 feet around. It is to come down Jan. 18.

“His time has come. And mine is about due, too,” Knight said.

It was 1956 when Knight, who ran a logging business, was named Yarmouth’s tree warden. That year, Dutch elm disease swooped in and as trees died, he decided to concentrate on one elm with a beautiful 120-foot wide canopy.

“He was such a beautiful tree,” he said. “That’s why I wouldn’t cut it.”

Herbie survived, and through the decades Knight helped it win 13 other battles with the Dutch elm disease.

Knight, who uses a walker and attributes his own long life to lunching on raw spinach and beer, once thought Herbie would outlive him. He says he has come to grips with losing the tree.

“Nothing is forever,” he said. “I don’t want anybody to grieve when I go. Just be glad I could do what I did while I was here.”

Bill Livingston, a professor at the University of Maine, said that in Yarmouth alone, there are just a dozen elms left of the original 700 that were planted.

“These trees grew so fast and so tall that their branches would reach across the street where basically it became a tunnel,” Livingston said. “When the disease came in, it eliminated all of the trees.”